Bad Wolf
by potterfanxp123
Summary: On the anniversary of Rose Tyler's burial, the TARDIS reacts.


The TARDIS jerked. It's not a great thing to think about, in any situation. But, the Doctor found out early that morning, as he woke from his once quarter-century nap, that being abruptly awoken from the TARDIS jerking when that shouldn't be possible was not a comfortable position.

He wasn't sure what was more worrying; the fact that he had made plans to visit her grave today, or that he'd saved the world again, nearly sacrificing himself in the process, only to find out that he'd awakened on the day that was officially her death day.

He ran to the control room, not surprised at all too see that Amy and Rory had already arrived, both wearing the same clothes as yesterday, not that he could complain, he only changed his clothes when it suited him to be different. The TARDIS cleaned and pressed everything itself, after all.

No, it didn't surprise him to realize they were there. What did surprise him was the 'there'.

Cardiff.

Why were they in Cardiff? The Doctor looked at his scans, realizing that they weren't anywhere near the levels needed for an emergency refill. And, as far as he could tell, the Rift wasn't active at all. Torchwood, under the direction of Captain Jack Harkness, the last he'd heard in his previous life, was doing a really good job of keeping them together.

So why had the TARDIS jerked.

"What's wrong with you," the Doctor murmured, after returning his salutations to the six-month newlyweds.

He checked all primary systems, checked for remnants of Huon particles in the air, anything that would have made the TARDIS jerk to where it wasn't supposed to be.

Nothing! It was infuriation at its best.

The Doctor was about to move the TARDIS towards the graveyard where the empty casket stood, only ten miles or so from here, when he noticed it, the problem.

It had been staring him in the face since he'd gotten awoken.

The TARDIS knew, and it was crying.

"There my sweet," he murmured, patting the control system in front of him. The TARDIS itself hadn't changed, but all of his screens were lit up with two words.

BAD WOLF

She knew. She knew that today was the day that the Doctor had buried an empty casket in a cold, lifeless cemetery. She knew that Rose, her BAD WOLF, had been buried this time, one lifetime ago, and that there was no coming back. She knew, as did the Doctor, how much that knowledge hurt.

"Doctor," Amy asked, "what happened? Did you land the TARDIS?"

"What," the Doctor asked. "No…. No, I didn't land her, Amy. She landed her own self. She's upset, you see."

"What is the Bad Wolf," Amy asked, "is it hostile? Is it invading Earth?"

"No… that's ridiculous. The Bad Wolf is a former companion of mine; she was great, she was. Today, one year ago, I buried her in this cemetery. And the TARDIS is grieving her. They had connection, you see. It was beautiful. Rose looked into the Heart of the TARDIS to save all of mankind, and the TARDIS sort of adopted her, it's complicated."

"So," Amy asked, "tell us about her?"

The Doctor's expression brightened, as a visible glow emanated from the control in front of him. Amy smiled, realizing why, all those months that never were and were again, he'd pushed her away.

"Is that the picture we found in our room, Doctor," Amy asked, "of the blond haired girl with the purple jacket? It just appeared this morning and we have no idea what to do with it."

The Doctor smiled, taking the picture from her and placing it on the console before him.

"That's her, my sweet Rose... I wonder how she'd like this face. She seemed to love my Tenth twice as much as my Ninth. I miss her, you know. It's not like with Sarah Jane, who I had no choice but to leave, or even Donna, whose memories of all this I had to erase. I can pop in on them any time," he said, "but we just can't go to see her. If we could," the Doctor said, "I would in less than two beats of my heart."

The TARDIS seemed to like that idea, but the Doctor sighed.

"Where is she," Amy asked. He sighed.

"You know the Void? That never-ending expanse River told you about, the separator of worlds? Rose is on the other side of that, with her family, because I stranded her there instead of telling her what she means to me. I let her go there, with a copy of myself, because I couldn't bear the thought of my copy destroying an entirely new world."

"I'm sorry," Amy said, as she hugged the Doctor. "My raggedy Doctor, I guess you weren't always mine, right?"

"Right," the Doctor said, "still," he said, opening the door to the TARDIS, "I'd much rather keep you two around, can't stand talking to myself."

As he pushed the door open, he knelt beside the man in the paltry WWII RAF uniform that was placing flowers in her unmarked grave, and said, "it's not the same without her."

"I miss her," the man said, "even more than I thought possible. And what about you," Jack said turning to him, "Changing your face again? What happened?"

"Not now Jack," the Doctor commanded, "not now. I'll tell you later, but now, now it's time to remember my Bad Wolf."

Jack smiled. That name he hadn't thought of in so many years had been the pivotal point of his life. He remembered one of the last times he'd seen her, her eyes filled with hatred at the Daleks that had dared strike her Doctor, as his body glowed with the newly minted regenerative energy.

"He's dying, and you know what happens next," Jack had screamed. He'd dragged her away, from the Doctor, from the TARDIS itself, which had started to glow as she neared it.

The Doctor exploded his regeneration as violent as his death had been. And, too their shock, he'd moved sending it all into a handy bio-matching receptacle.

And she'd been so happy.

Their remembrance done, Jack boarded the TARDIS, his eyes eying the woman standing there. He spotted the ring on both their fingers, and said, "Wow, you really are going domestic? I bet Rose would have loved to see this."

The Doctor nodded, and the TARDIS disappeared. In its wake Cardiff had gone silent.


End file.
